Drilling for oil and natural gas on disputed Roan Plateau federal leases could begin next year, according to Bill Barrett Corp. executives.

In June, Barrett spent $60 million on leases for 35,000 acres on the iconic Garfield County mesa.

The lease sale is the target of a lawsuit by a coalition of environmental groups who say the auction by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management was based on faulty environmental analysis.

The acreage is already under “the highest level of environmental protection” of any federal lands, Fred Barrett, the company’s chief executive, said in a Tuesday earnings call.

Despite the lawsuit, Barrett bought a 90 percent share in the property from Vantage Energy LLC.

Vantage purchased the parcels at auction in August 2008 for about $58 million and will retain the 10 percent share.

A ruling in the case, which is in U.S. District Court in Denver, is expected in September.

Joe Jaggers, Barrett’s chief operating officer, said that an “unfavorable” ruling is likely and more environmental analysis and modeling — particularly for air- quality impacts — will be required.

Jaggers said that the goal is to have any additional environmental analysis completed early next year.

The Roan leases may have about 3 trillion cubic feet of natural-gas reserves, but only 2 trillion of that may be accessible because of BLM environmental restrictions and other limitations, Jaggers said.

“If the court rules that environmental analysis was flawed, all bets are off,” said Michael Chiropolos, a Western Resource Advocates attorney representing the environmental groups.

The court could order a more comprehensive analysis or cancel the lease, Chiropolos said.

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